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Direct Service Experience

Individual and Couples Counseling

Most clients are served through brief therapy although our center does not have a
session limit. Interns work with a diverse student population since our student body
is comprised of non-traditional aged students, international students, students from
a variety of racial and cultural, sexual minorities, and students with disabilities.
In addition to individual therapy the Center also provides relationship counseling
for gay, lesbian, and heterosexual couples. A typical intern case load is about 15
client contact hours per week, including new client slots.

Intake Service

Interns conduct clinical intake interviews. On average each staff member conducts
three new intakes per week. That number may increase during peak times of the semester.
Interns will conduct the initial interview, write up the intake reports and conduct
ongoing assessment as they formulate conceptualizations of the clients' concerns.
Interns will also provide crisis services as necessary.

In addition, our staff is sometimes consulted by offices and departments within the
university for student-related problems. In addition, staff members sometimes serve
on university committees. Consultation and outreach are important aspects of the Center's
many services and interns actively participate in both the planning and delivery of
these services.

SUPERVISION AND TRAINING EXPERIENCE

Individual Supervision

Supervision at the Center is designed so that interns have exposure to a number of
different staff members during their internship year. Each intern has two individual
supervisors throughout the year; each provides an hour of supervision weekly, covering
half the intern's caseload.

Group Supervision

This twice monthly seminar provides an opportunity for interns to discuss their clinical
work with each other and the seminar facilitator. Goals are to conceptualize cases
from various theoretical perspectives, to consider new ideas regarding intervention
options, to heighten awareness of therapist reactions and experiences, and to offer
and receive support from the intern cohort. An additional focus of the seminar is
to discuss and practice case presentation skills culminating in case presentation
to the enter Center staff.

Supervision Seminar and Practice

The center is also a training facility for master's students from multidisciplinary
settings. As a result interns are involved in providing supervision. Fall semester
is spent exploring various theoretical orientations to supervision while serving as
a member of the master's student's supervision team. Spring semester is spent with
the intern as the lead supervisor of the student's supervision team. The didactic
portion of this seminar will meet twice monthly in the fall. The supervision teams
will meet weekly in the spring to discussion supervision issues.

Crisis Intervention Seminar

Interns receive intensive training on crisis intervention skills including suicidality
assessments. This 90-minute seminar is offered during the fall semester.

Professional/General Topics Seminar

Ninety-minute professional practice seminars are held throughout the fall and spring
semesters. Senior staff and guest mental health professionals present seminars on
topics of interest to clinicians.

Multicultural Seminar

Multicultural sensitivity and competence is an expectation at the Counseling and Testing
Center. As a result multicultural concerns and issues are infused into every aspect
of the training experience. Formal multicultural supervision is provided in group
format beginning spring of the internship year. The aim of this seminar is to develop
interns' skills, sensitivity, and awareness regarding individual differences, diversity
and multicultural issues in group process. This is provided through a combination
of didactic training, self-exploration and case discussion.

Professional Identity Seminar

This seminar meets twice monthly, is led by the Training Coordinator, and provides
an opportunity for interns to explore their professional identities. The seminar is
semi-structured. Some meetings are devoted to processing the interns' experiences
in various stages of the internship. Other meetings would involve specific topics
such as the job search, interviewing skills, ethics training, Kentucky mental health
law, etc. Topics will be decided upon by the interns and Training Coordinator.

***Please note that seminar offerings are subject to change based on emerging needs
of the interns.